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Favourite Delays


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I've been on a pedal kick for the past 2 years now. Before that, I explored drives and boosts, but nothing much outside of that. I still explored those to some degree, but it was mostly the complimentary effects like chorus/phase/delay/reverb/vibrato/trem I was messing with. 

Delay had been something I ignored almost completely, but I've fallen madly in love going through several different pedals. Ultimately I found the Empress Tape Delay as a mainstay and adding another to go with it, currently the Keeley 30ms since it also offers reverb and doubletracking (Stereo or mono).

Then I saw the Empress Echosystem which just looks and sounds bonkers to me. A couple of pros for me, they are local-ish (Kanata is about 2 hours away), I love the Tape Delay and the Echosystem does everything it can and more. It has pretty well every type of delay you (I) could ever want to use or try, It has real knobs and switches, you can use it to great effect without delving into the subset of features - it's plug and play but also can be manipulated to great degree through various settings, you can run two separate delay types at the same time, either series, parallel or Stereo, and it can be upgraded down the road. 

Ironically, when I first was looking at delays I said I wanted simple. Something that did one thing really well. I found that in the Empress Tape Delay, but I also wanted to try other things. So now I've sold off a few superfluous delay pedals and have ordered the Echosystem. I'm really looking forward to tapping into what it can do and get lost in time and space. 

Anyone else have experience with the Empress Echosystem? What's your favourite delay(s)? What's on your board now? 

 

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I don't have a board, but I do use two delays:

1. Catalinbread Belle Epoch---does the 70s echoplex thing REALLY well....since I live in the 70s, a no-brainer

2. Keeley Memphis Sun....I bought this for an old-school RNR/rockabilly project and I love the vintage vibe this pedal produces.....a Reverb delay mix that creates a really cool echo effect that sounds really, really old. It is my sound on this project.

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10 minutes ago, Jakeboy said:

I don't have a board, but I do use two delays:

1. Catalinbread Belle Epoch---does the 70s echoplex thing REALLY well....since I live in the 70s, a no-brainer

2. Keeley Memphis Sun....I bought this for an old-school RNR/rockabilly project and I love the vintage vibe this pedal produces.....a Reverb delay mix that creates a really cool echo effect that sounds really, really old. It is my sound on this project.

Cool! I went through the Belle Epoch and really did enjoy it. It was early in my journey and moved on down the line at some point. They have the Belle Epoch Deluxe now, which looks and sounds great from what I've seen/heard. I'd love to try that one if I had the chance. 

The Memphis Sun is a cool one too. I tried that one after liking the 30ms, but in the end decided upon the Abbey Road vs Memphis tones. 

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Been through a few delays. I was never able to exploit the features of the more complicated pedals. I don't use delay as a jazzercise event, with shit bingity-boinging all over the map. Just a simple, "Blackmoreish" 1/4 note delay, with three or four slow, decaying echoes  

Analogman Boss DD-3/DD-5. Works every time.

 

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Diamond Memory Lane Jr. Would love to try a full Memory Lane,  but the Jr. has been good enough.   Overall, as long as it has tap tempo with the ability to do dotted notes, I'm pretty easy to please. 

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Source audio Nemisis

Retro sonic delay

with a new board in works, the Retro did not make the cut, great pedal, I will miss it. And the nemisis can get close...

(left space reserved for the new source audio Ventris reverb, soon to be released)

IS1ZHIW.jpg

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3 hours ago, murkat said:

Source audio Nemisis

That one certainly looks to be a very capable option too. Nice choice!

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I use a TC Electronic Flashback, which is kind of like a Swiss Army knife digital delay (does a lot of things really well), and also use a Catilinbread Echorec, for a (still digital) clone of the famed Binson Echorec - If you've ever seen Pink Floyd's live at Pompeii, Dave Gilmour uses like a mad scientist.. 

 

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I loved the Strymon El Capistan for years. I had one of the first pedals (I remember pouncing on an in stock email at the playground with my kids!) and for a long time wired it into the send on my mixer so that I could use it on guitar, synth, and voice when my daughter and I would goof off. :D

I downsized my rig a bit and intended to replace it with the Helix.  It's very good and such a great all-in-one, but I may pick up another delay in the future. Probably the Nemesis or the Eventide H9 (I used to have a TimeFactor and PitchFactor).

Glad you're digging the EchoSystem!  

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The Wampler Faux Tape Echo is the best ive found a covers a lot of ground.  Tap tempo is a must, and the sway and movement controls of tape style delays are simpy tits!

 

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I have three delay pedals right now.

On the board I use the Way Huge SupaPuss. I just love it. Can sound very 70's and Echoplexi, if you want. I like it way more than the old EH Memory Man I had.

At home I use a 70's Ibanez AD80. It's sound absolutely lovely, but as it's so old I only use it for studio work these days, if I use it with the band.

And I have a Deep Blue Delay clone that sounds pretty decent too. No way near the other two though, I have not yet heard a digital delay that can compete fully with an analog.

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I really did like the El Cap, and shot it out with the Empress Tape Delay. They were so close to my ears that the Empress was selected to have at least one Canadian made product on the board ;). I did end up with a different Strymon later, but it was the Riverside Drive (Replaced an OCD for my grit and a Fulltone F2B booster/buffer with the tap/favourite pedal set up as a boost). I think I'd be happy with a board full of Strymons, but I like to support (and try out) other makers for some variety. 

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Delay is my favorite effect.

In terms of functionality, a tap tempo function and an input for external tempo are useful. Being able to set the delay in terms of time (ms) and beat value is good. Having a delay range up to 1 second is good, I don't really use anything longer. I like a delay that offers me a choice between at least 3 delay modes: a clean digital, an analog delay emulation (although a digital delay with an LPF on the feedback path will do fine), and a tape/modulation delay to add some pleasing warble. Reverse delay is fun, but I don't really use it. For clean or low gain sounds I like the character of a tape/modulation delay, but once the gain gets higher that makes the sound swampy. I've set up my Boss MS-3 switcher so switching in an overdrive/distortion to a clean signal path changes the delay type from tape to digital.

A decent delay should have enough headroom that the delay path doesn't break up too fast. I've had several multi-tap delays, but never used that feature: instead I prefer two delays in my chain, one for slapback, another for longer delays that I can control individually.

Any delay with the above functionality will work for me. As far as sound quality goes, I can't tell one delay from another.

The Boss MS-3 does everything I describe above (and tons more!), and while it only has one dedicated delay slot, the reverb slot and the two generic effects slot also have delays available, so my delay pedal will be retired soon.

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4 hours ago, soulfield said:

The Wampler Faux Tape Echo is the best ive found a covers a lot of ground.  Tap tempo is a must, and the sway and movement controls of tape style delays are simpy tits!

+1

And who doesn't enjoy tits?;)

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19 minutes ago, Studio Custom said:

It's times like these that I really appreciate the Axe Fx. 

Now that's a lot of options for everything. Pretty sure I'd get lost wayy before I ever touched on delay. 

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21 hours ago, RobB said:

Been through a few delays. I was never able to exploit the features of the more complicated pedals. I don't use delay as a jazzercise event, with shit bingity-boinging all over the map. Just a simple, "Blackmoreish" 1/4 note delay, with three or four slow, decaying echoes.

Same for me, or more accurately, a Robbo-esque "Still in Love With You" on Live and Dangerous delay.

The TCE Flashback in LOFI mode worked great for this, but I didn't need all that functionality, so a simple MXR Carbon Copy is the one for now.

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13 minutes ago, MCChris said:

The TCE Flashback in LOFI mode worked great for this, but I didn't need all that functionality, so a simple MXR Carbon Copy is the one for now.

The Flashback is great, and the TonePrint editor will let you customize both the sound parameters and the controls to your needs. The TCE Alter Ego has the same delay engine with different presets that emulate analog, tape, and classic digital delay units. For folks who just use one type of delay, the mini Flashback costs less and uses less board space. The quad version is a beast and will dominate your pedalboard!

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Tried a Carbon Copy, did not understand it (that was when I started w/ pedals).

Now: Rockett Alien Echo (what else...?) and a FLIP Tube Echo (out of production, for the long delays).

I really dig my Empress Tremolo, but the Echosystem got way too much knobs for my brain. And then there is the price...

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Also my favorite effect, which is strange because back in the 80's when I first got started I couldn't imagine why anyone would want an echo of their signal going.  Then U2 hit and I went, "ah-ha!"  Of course, I've discovered lots of different uses beyond the now done-and-done dotted-eighth.

When I was a real guitarist (like, in a band), I used with great satisfaction the Boss DD-20 with a separate FS-6 switch for tap-tempo.  Worked splendidly in a gigging scenario and sounded great.  But how I could I leave well enough alone? 

I swapped that for a Pigtronix Echolution (version 1, back then). An absolutely horrible sounding device (though the theory behind it was phenomenal). 

That left extremely quickly (like, same week) and in came a TC Electronics Nova Delay.  Still gigging, this thing was just what the doctor ordered - sounded great like the DD-20, but double the presets and even more tap division options.  A smorgasbord of echoey goodness! When the TC Flashback was introduced, I bought one of the first Sweetwater shipped out. The Flashback killed the Nova, for me, as the Flashback's new Analog Dry Through (original guitar signal came out untouched) made a difference (or didn't, as it were) even I could hear. I was greatly torn since the Nova had everything I needed, but just didn't sound anywhere as great as the Flashback.

Then my gig ended and thus began the goofy cork-sniffery and experimentation (i.e., not playing) that persists today.  I sold the Nova, kept the TC (still have it).  Tried a Carbon Copy - I must've gotten a bad one because it really, really messed with the guitar's signal, even when off.  It left pretty quickly, too.

Some time last year (or was it the year before?) I ran across (and bought) this phenomenal box from Mr. Keeley:

KWSDelay-large.jpg?844c3e632e

I am pleased to say it sounds phenomenal and has more options than I'll ever use.  The biggest surprise for me has been how useful a Reverb pedal has been (never had one), especially in conjunction with the delay.  Additionally, settings 7 and 8 on the Reverb side are Tape and Digital Delay functions, which allows running two independent delays simultaneously or the ability to select between them.  Also has an input jack for an expression pedal (never had one of those, either).  Here's a chart of functions:

DelayWorkstationInstructionCardSide2.jpg

The only drawback on this, for me, is it seems more suited to recording / noodling than gigging.  There are no presets and committing this chart to memory and acting on it in the flow of a setlist seems a bit advanced for my meager brain power.  Perhaps there'd be a couple of settings one would use throughout and ignore the others.  I am considering an expression pedal, however, to heighten the noodling fun!

Yes, a long post, but I do enjoy the textures afforded by delay (and now also, reverb).

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I'm a doof when it comes to setting up and using pedals, so I got the Line 6 DL-4.  Super easy to use but I wish it had more presets.  At one point I bought a TC Electronics Nova Delay to have more presets, but the aforementioned doof factor kicked in and made it less user-friendly than I needed so I sold it.

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